Thought for the Week 12th August

A fragment of bread
A fragment of bread
cupped in my hand
torn off from the whole
cupped in my hand,
passed to me.
And I too must tear the body
to share with my neighbour
a fragment of bread
to embody me with them
and he with us.
A piece of bread
a bread of peace
scattered, grown
cut down, mown
gathered, ground
mixed pummelled
risen, fired and found.
A piece of bread
a bread of peace
sliced and toasted
broken shared
around a table
to give us life.
Kate McIlhagga


GOSPEL (John 6.35, 41–51)

Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.
Glory to you, O Lord

Jesus said to the crowd, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’

Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ They were saying, ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, “I have come down from heaven”?’

Jesus answered them, ‘Do not complain among yourselves. No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, “And they shall all be taught by God.”
Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life.

I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’

Thought for the Week 5th August

Anyone could have seen the first two just behind the fabric of the world. The third is in an unlooked-for ray of brilliance.
Power lifts over us abundantly in sunlight, ocean, lightning; matchless design in a bird’s wing. Only a mind sealed shut could see and not stir to the presence of a creating majesty. Voices speak suddenly with different claritysing in a key nobody taught. For those it touches this empowerment is undeniable as the wild wind. But power given utterly to the task of mending, healing, cleansing, at its own cost; making whole what was broken; pouring itself out endlessly to be a light to the soul lost in the dark rocks; spending itself as salt to fend off decay this is a new song, a gift beyond imagining, and surpassing strange.
Roddie Cowie.

Wedding Andrew and Clare Darby

Saturday 28th April saw the Wedding of Mr Andrew Darby to Miss Clare Debenham. Although it was a miserable day outside inside it was a day of love and warmth. We would like to wish the couple, who both sing in the choir at St Marys, every happiness in their new life together as a married couple.
The wedding was performed by Rev Jenny Hill and our Rural Dean the Rev Canon David Lawson.

Thought for the Week The fourth Week of Easter.

Easter Blessing

How beautiful is the blossom
Spilling from the tree
The hidden primrose
and the bluebell
ringing out the news.
He is risen,
He is alive,
we shall live for evermore.
The dark winter is past
the slow, cold foggy days are over
May the warmth of your resurrection
touch our hearts and minds
as the warmth of the sun
blesses our bodies.
Kate Mcllhagga

John. (10.11–18)

Jesus said to the Pharisees:
‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away – and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep.
I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.
I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again.
I have received this command from my Father.’

Thought for the Week Third Week of Easter

Road to Emmaus

by
Edward Keyes

Under the paschal skies the weight of dead hopes lay heavy. Only the wan light of rumour flickered fitfully. But who heeds women's tales fashioned of drams, losing the fact in the dream? The stranger was an irritant, dropping questions upon their mournful musings till he spoke again. Old embalmed sayings broke from their cerements. Hints and prophesies thrust quivering into the present with heart-warming life. The past was now. They walked through time on that Easter afternoon, yet somehow time was in the stranger, soon to be no stranger. They knew him in the breaking of the bread.


¹³ That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles^[a] from Jerusalem, ¹⁴ and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. ¹⁵ While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. ¹⁶  But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. ¹⁷ And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. ¹⁸ Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” ¹⁹ And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, ²⁰ and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. ²¹ But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. ²² Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, ²³ and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. ²⁴  Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.” ²⁵ And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶  Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” ²⁷ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
²⁸ So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, ²⁹ but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰ When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. ³¹  And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. ³² They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” ³³ And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, ³⁴ saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” ³⁵ Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Thought for the Week Second week of Easter

Doubt padlocked one door and
Memory put her back to the other.
Still the damp draught seeped in
though Fear filled all the cracks and
Blindness boarded up the window.
In the darkness that was left
Defeat crouched in his cold corner.
Then Jesus came
(all the doors being shut)
and stood among them.
by Luci Shaw in "The Risk of Birth" 1974

The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.          (20.19–31

It was evening on the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them;
if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’ But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’
A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’
Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’
Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’ Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

He is Risen - Thoughts on Easter

Its Easter Monday for me writing this. Holy week, Maunday Thursday and the Last Supper, the stripping of the altar and church, Good Friday and the cross, that long service, The Easter Saturday workshop with the kids, and the building of the Easter garden and setting up the church are all part of Easter.
On Easter morning, getting up at 4am to get down the church and be ready to start the service - The Easter Liturgy at 5am possibly (apart from the time) the best service of the year. This year we had to do a bit more work in the church, which I suppose bought us a bit nearer to the meaning.
I like the part of the service, when we all light the candles and walk into the church bringing the light from outside into the church, lighting candles as we go down.
After the service then we have the cooked Easter breakfast,with as many as can stay, then getting the church ready for the main Easter service at 10:00am - practising a few more anthems.
The Rest of the day is spent recovering. By early afternoon most of my household was asleep, on surfacing for an evening meal with Grand parents, before an Early Night.
Easter is hard word. Nothing like Christmas. A more gentle service and with a much deeper meaning. We celebrate the one man who died and came back to life to say we have nothing to fear. Death is no the end. It is only just the beginning.